1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunications and, more particularly, to methods and systems for conducting mobile tests.
2. Description of Related Art
In a CDMA network for instance, when the network receives an incoming call to a mobile unit, the network uses a forward control channel, known as a paging channel, to page the mobile unit. If the mobile unit receives the page, the mobile unit may respond to the page by transmitting a response over a reverse control channel, known as an access channel. If the network successfully receives the response over the access channel from the mobile unit, the network will then generally allocate terrestrial and radio resources to the call, such as a traffic channel. Typically, when a call connection setup is successful, the mobile unit will ring to notify a mobile user of the incoming call.
To test the CDMA common control channels, such as paging and access channels, the industry adopted the “short call test”, where a statistically valid number of calls are placed to a mobile unit, and the number of calls that have been set-up successfully and unsuccessfully are recorded. Typically a second reference mobile unit is tested along the side of the mobile unit under test, so as to reduce errors in mobile measurements induced by network problems, for instance.
As an example, simultaneous calls (e.g., 100 at time) may be placed to both mobiles in the same environment. If a given mobile unit rings, it is an indication that the given mobile unit has successfully acquired a traffic channel, thus passing the test of paging/access channel connection. This may generally be referred to as an “access success”. If the given mobile does not ring (e.g., misses a page on the paging channel or cannot connect to the network over the access channel), an “access failure” may be declared.
To determine whether a mobile call connection set-up has been successful or not, traditional call test methods may require attaching test equipment directly to a mobile unit. The mobile unit may be directly attached to a PC controller using a data cable, and/or could be attached to other equipment (e.g., RF equipment) through other electrical (e.g., RF) connection(s). However, these type of direct electric connections can couple noise to the mobile unit and/or may generally alter operational characteristics (e.g., RF characteristics), and thus performance, of the mobile unit. For example, a direct data connection to the mobile unit may alter an antenna pattern characteristic of the mobile unit. This is undesirable, since the mobile unit may be unable to successfully transmit and/or receive wireless signals. In effect, an access failure may result.
Further, the existing test methods may often be poorly adapted to testing mobile units in a field (e.g., a test setup may only allow for testing mobile unit(s) in a lab environment), may involve manual testing methods, which could be very time-consuming for a test operator, and/or may have other limitations rendering them generally inflexible.